The Cruellest War Books

War is coming to Europe. After a century of peace, the drums are beating again and the young man may seek honour and glory in service of his King and country. General Griffin’s sons welcome the chance to leave the tedium of Oxford to pursue a manly existence for a few months – not for too long, the war will be over by Christmas. Two are regulars, the other three join as second lieutenants, using their father’s influence to cross the Channel with the very first of the British Expeditionary Force. They are soon at the front of the first, confused probes into Belgium and the scattered action spread piecemeal about the little country…

The war of movement continues in September and October 1914, the BEF still undersize and unable to cope with the demands upon it. French forces have taken massive losses in Alsace and Lorraine, and in an unfortunate excursion into the Ardennes, and have no bodies spare to bolster the British contingent. General Griffin’s division is central to the fight for Ypres, his four surviving sons all in the front lines. German forces have failed to meet the timetable demanded by the Schlieffen Plan and are desperate to drive the French to surrender before Russia can mobilise its millions to invade Prussia in a two-front war. Nothing is going to any plan and all sides are desperate. The small, highly professional British army is dying, its trained riflemen taking inexorable casualties, and inflicting massive losses in each successive encounter. It is Tommy Atkins’ finest, and last, hour…